on not dying or taking down the widowmakers

[Bladite]

so, there's this collection of paths in "my" woods. a number of people lately have been marking them, and using them more for walking, cross country running, biking, etc. some surveyors have also been marking it up pretty heavy. i figure between the new use, and the potential for the woods to go away, give or take, someone will get hurt with dead tress falling on them, or the woods will just go away too, and i can't enjoy them in anyway. so, one way to enjoy them is to help things be pleasant and safe for the time being.

thus, trail clearing. have been making a habit of going for the long walks with woods toos, folding saw, hatchet, axe, khurki. looking for projects, exercise, serenity, challenge, adventure, and practice.

lots of little dead trees laying against other trees - a lot of them can just be pushed the right way, and they fall where you want. others... not so much, so check out this illustration:

 \
  \
   \
    \
    #\ 
    # \
    #  \
    #   v
    #    \
    #     \
    #      \+
    #      -o

this tree about 9-10 thick fell against a stout oak? and held, it had rotted at the base 'o' and in falling, had nearly split in half at 'v', but not quite. this particular tree was right over a major path. the point 'v' was going to be the tricky tricky part you see, as the tree is thicker there than at the elevated end, so if/when it breaks, it's going to drop and flip backward towards the base. yes. lovely.

so, nibble the bum er bottom of the whole affair at '+' allowed the tree to slip towards '-' in a fairly controlled way and allowed the whole thing to anti-kickback. this is good. even though i WAS ready for it, watching it slide was rather scary, and even so i was hauling ass towards a roughly pre-determined spot of safety. slump slump SNAP goes 'v' and whooooosh, everything comes down:



so, the tip of the whole thing didn't QUITE come down where i was standing, but close. so now there's a big old bit across the path - with nice little punji spikes coming from it - that's one of the deadlies with widowmakers, not just the crushing fun, the impalement. dragged the main big piece off path, and had at the littler bit to make a path space:



on to the next one another day... i remember a grand old tree that had fall already about a path... it must have been (guessing) 70-80 feet tall, oak, 1 foot thick across the path, maybe 1.5 to 1.75 feet at the base (i could measure it, but well, later :>) BIG. crushed things. heavy. here's some "raisin mushrooms" that were growing on it: (yummy!):



and this fantastic plant: (wow!)[i really need to setup my smugmug account this weekend, so i can upload the whole forest primeval hiking/flowers stuff enmass and allow comments (i think)]



so, on to cutting.... already had cleaned off the branches and surrounding trash dead stuff... safer for me if i have to dance around later... here's the first cut:



and the second:



let's play count the rings... please, do, i can't count...



and my chunk, which i kinda got careless moving, and smoosh a fingernail a little - don't they make steel tip gloves (like steel toe boots? ;>)



#

 

[Mongo-man]

I think it's always a good idea to either push them till they fall or cut them. This way they don't strain the other trees and they will fall down safely, rot and decompose and become a safehaven for millions of animal and plants who need the old tree's for lodging and as a foodsource.

Sometimes children use the unstable trees to climb up on the slope, a very dangerous practise.

So it's a win/win situation if you cut them down for safety and as a natural source for other forest inhabitants, and you will have a good workout and fun.

 

[Bladite]

there's a lot of standing dead trees still, some of them i nudge or have the axe taste them a bit... many are SOLID and tough, and already are providing homes to birds and racoons and things... so they stay...

the dangerous fallen stuff, there's too much for me to do really, but anything over a path, or could fall on path, nope - gotta go.

bladite